January 2005 through May 4 , 2005 - President Vicente Fox and his National Action Party (PAN) attempt to disqualify Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) from running for president by prosecuting him for ignoring a court order to cease construction on a hospital access road. The plan backfires and leads to an upsurge in support for Lopez Obrador that culminated in a march of a million people in Mexico City.
January 19, 2006 - Presidential candidates begin their campaigns.
May 22, 2006 - PRD alleges Fox has illegally participated in the electoral campaigns by advocating against Lopez Obrador.
May 23, 2006 - Federal Electoral Tribunal orders three defamatory PAN television advertisements calling Lopez Obrador "a danger for Mexico" off the air.
July 2, 2006 - Election Day. The Other Campaign holds first ever protest on Election Day. At 11PM Luis Ugalde of the IFE announces that the election is too close to call. Fox calls for prudence in a pre-recorded speech televised only seconds after Ugalde's stunning announcement. Both Felipe Calderon of the PAN and Lopez Obrador of the PRD claim victory.
July 3, 2006 - Lopez Obrador and the PRD announce that, according to the IFE's numbers, three million votes are missing. The IFE later "found" about two million of these votes. Lopez Obrador makes first announcement that he will ask for a full, vote-by-vote recount.
July 4, 2006 - Citizens find ballot boxes from three precincts won by Lopez Obrador in the trash dump in Nezahuacoyotl, Mexico State.
July 5, 2006 - Millions across Mexico monitor the IFE's polling place vote count on television, radio, and internet. Throughout the entire count Lopez Obrador maintains a 2.5 point lead until the last 30 percent when his lead starts to fall until Calderon surpasses him at 98 percent of the count. During the last 15 percent of votes counted, when Calderon and Lopez Obrador fluctuate drastically, switching places, all the other three candidates hold the exact same percentages. Two National Autonomous University of Mexico mathematicians call this "cybernetic fraud."
July 6, 2006 - After calculating the polling place totals, the IFE declares Felipe Calderon the winner.
July 8, 2006 - Obrador leads first protest march with several hundred thousand people claiming fraud, demanding a vote-by-vote recount, and calling for civil disobedience.
July 16, 2006 - Obrador leads second protest march of a million people.
July 30, 2006 - Obrador leads third protest march of around 2 million people, the largest in Mexican history, and calls for encampments in the town square and down several major avenues until the Tribunal concedes to a full recount.
August 5, 2006 - The Federal Electoral Tribunal discards the majority of the PRD's complaints, refuses to conduct a vote-by-vote recount, ordering instead a recount of about 9 percent of the total votes cast (thus acknowledging anomalies in 9 percent of the original vote count). Lopez Obrador calls for his supporters to continue their civil disobedience until the Tribunal concedes to a full recount.
August 7, 2006 - Lopez Obrador protests outside the Tribunal saying that the movement against fraud is truly a movement to overhaul the institutions of the Mexican State.
August 9, 2006 - Tribunal begins recount of nearly 12,000 polling booths in 26 states.
August 31, 2006 - Last day for the Tribunal to settle all challenges to the electoral process.
September 6, 2006 - Last day for the Tribunal to certify the elections and declare a president-elect.